


Soul of a New Machine

by shirosquared



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Coran helps Lance, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Flashbacks, Gen, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Langst, Post Season 2, Post-Defeat of Zarkon, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Torture, poor lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-09-23 17:49:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9669554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shirosquared/pseuds/shirosquared
Summary: Lance had been living the same cycle of events over and over since he got captured by the Galra. After seven months with Haggar, the other Paladins finally manage to save him. However, they soon realize that Lance's wounds run much deeper than they had hoped.





	1. The First Days

For Lance, the first few days without _her_ were the worst. At every turn he expected her to show up again, or for the whole thing to fade and he would end up back there. At least there, he had been expecting what he got. Here, he couldn’t predict anything.

He remembered Allura ordering for them to attack him, remembered Hunk being the one to do it while Lance was still restrained. The way they approached him, like they were friends, only made everything worse. How could they still act like they were best friends after everything that had happened?

“Hey, Lance?” The sudden voice jerked Lance out of his thoughts, looking up quickly like he had gotten used to doing. Keith’s face made Lance take an involuntary step back, watching him cautiously.

Lance didn’t speak, although that was expected. He had barely said a word since he had been rescued, worried that if he said the wrong thing then they’d turn against him again. He had been brought from the ship to this castle, which was strange - Haggar’s tricks never went this far. Maybe that was what she wanted him to think, so that he’d gain hope and then he would be even worse off.

“You feeling any better?” Keith asked, trying not to seem uneasy. Allura and Coran had told them to make sure that they didn't make Lance feel threatened in any way, in case he reacted badly. Since they didn't know what had happened (and Lance was unwilling to explain), they just had to guess that Lance had been hurt several times over the seven months that he'd been in Haggar’s captivity.

Lance was quiet, as per usual, and Keith sighed quietly. “Come on, Lance… no response, no nothing?”

Lance shook his head, opening his mouth to speak but then going silent.

"Lance, we just want to help you," Keith tried. "We're a team, remember? I know that you need your space, and I don't blame you for that, but we don't know how to help you because you haven't said anything."

Lance just shook his head, refusing to share any of it. He couldn't tell them, he _couldn't_.

“Alright,” Keith murmured. “Thanks for talking to me, Lance. Do you want to get something to eat?”

Lance shook his head again, as he always did - ever since he had gotten back, he'd refused to eat, in case the food was drugged (a common trick, as he knew from experience), and he refused to sleep in case one of the paladins came in to kill him while he was defenseless.

It wouldn't be the first for either, nor was it the first time that he’d been lied to. Despite everything the others were saying, Lance could see that they had underlying emotions - anger, probably directed at him, and worry, probably that they didn't know what to do now that he was still alive.

“Hey, I've got an idea,” Keith tried. “Do you wanna go on a flight with Blue? I'll go with you so that you don't get taken again, but I'll leave you alone.”

Lance looked up at him, slightly surprised. Ever since he had gotten back, the others had tried to stop him from leaving, but now Keith was giving him a chance to leave this place… He nodded slowly.

Keith smiled slightly and held his hand out, close enough to himself so that Lance wouldn't freak out. “Come on, then.”

Lance didn't take his hand, but stared at it as if it was a foreign object to him. Then, he headed for the hangar rather than the zipline, and Keith followed behind him.

Lance climbed inside of Blue and Keith into Red, the two of them taking off. While Keith didn't say anything to Lance, he was always next to him. Lance felt slightly annoyed, knowing that Keith would bring him back if he tried to not return. Despite that, he felt the familiar controls and smiled; Blue hadn't changed at all. “I missed you, girl,” he rasped out, his voice hoarse from a lack of use, and smiled at her response - she had missed him, too. If the paladins didn't think he was important, or that he needed to die for Blue to have a new paladin, at least Blue still liked him. 

“Alright!” Lance sped up, barely registering Keith catching up to him. Lance let out a laugh, more out of relief. He grinned as he did crazy maneuvers, just glad to be back in the air with Blue.

Keith, who could hear Lance, smiled. He knew how much Lance loved Blue, and that he was probably getting more frustrated being stuck inside the castle with people that he thought were (as Lance had said earlier) going to use him.

Allura’s face popped up on a screen in front of Keith. _“Keith, is everything alright? Your lions are far from the castle.”_

“We’re fine,” he responded. “I brought Lance out here, and right now he's the happiest I've heard him since we got him out.”

She gave a relieved smile. _“I'm glad. Just make sure that you two come back safely.”_

“Of course, Princess,” Keith responded, one of Lance's cheers traveling over the communication line so that Allura could hear it.

Allura smiled, before the connection was ended. They flew around for a while before heading back to the castle, although Lance was reluctant to follow Keith. 

Lance's mood had been ecstatic while they were outside, but now that they were back his mood had mellowed out. “How are you feeling now, Lance?” Keith asked.

“I-” Lance quickly stopped himself, and Keith looked hopeful for a moment before he sighed. He knew that it would take time, but they didn't know _anything_ that would help them help Lance. 

The team all tried to be patient with him, but they were quickly getting frustrated. Coran, however, was the one who usually calmed things down when they got crazy like that.

Keith thought back to the rescue mission, when they had broken into the Galra ship and saved Lance. He should've realized then that everything had changed.


	2. Search and Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Voltron breaks into the Galra ship to rescue their teammate, but not everything goes as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 200 kudos... I'm in complete shock??
> 
> Sorry I took so long to update oops

They should’ve known, really, that everything would’ve gone wrong. Even though they’d had a plan, none of their plans tended to work out well.

Keith preferred to blame Zarkon.

_The plan had been simple enough, in theory, so it was only natural that things would go wrong. Since the Red Lion was the quickest, it’d be the best for getting in and out while the others served as a distraction._

“Is everyone in position?” _Shiro asked over the comms, getting three confirmations in response. He nodded to himself._ “Stick to the plan, then.”

_Pidge was waiting with the Green Lion, her cannon already formed on top of the lion’s back. When the fighters came out, she’d be responsible for destroying the ion cannons before they could break through the Castle’s particle barrier – they’d discovered that it typically didn’t last very long under heavy fire._

_Keith was nearby the main ship, waiting for the signal so that he could get inside at the right time. Allura, who was still at the Castle, would guide him through using the map that Pidge had found in some of the documents they hacked into._

_Hunk would act as a distraction for the fighter ships, since his lion had the most armor and could withstand such damage. Shiro would help Hunk, as well as stay on standby in case Keith got into trouble with the Galra inside._

_Coran was in charge of the Castle’s defenses, making sure that they didn’t get destroyed in the attempt to rescue their incarcerated teammate. However, none of them knew Lance’s current condition, which made it that much harder to plan around._

_They’d received the coordinates from one of their sources, a race called the Aushurians on planet Aushura. The team had gained their alliance after the Galra tried to take over their planet, but had managed to push their forces back with the help of Voltron. The Aushurians were known for their skills in woodworking, nearly every structure they created looking magnificent with their talents. However, because most of their buildings were created from wood, it had been difficult to save them as the Galra set some of them on fire._

_Almost as if on cue, after Shiro had finished his sentence, the Galra ships began firing at them. Hunk immediately started drawing the attention of the fighter drones with Shiro’s help, while Pidge shot her nature cannon at the ships’ artillery. Despite the fact that they were in space, it didn’t make much of a difference as the plants disabled the cannons without needing to be alive._

_“I’m in,” Keith told them, his voice hushed so as to not draw attention to himself. “Allura, how do I get to the prisoners’ cells from here?”_

“Take a left at the end of the hallway,” _Allura told him, having already mapped out the best route while they had been getting into their positions._

 _As the battle raged on outside, the others had tried to ignore the directions, although it was a bit disorienting to them to hear one direction and be going the complete opposite way._ “Pidge, watch your six!” _Shiro called, watching the younger paladin move to avoid a shot that’d been heading for her._

“Thanks,” _she responded, going back to her main task. The Castle was taking heavy fire, and Coran was having trouble keeping up with it all. If the particle barrier went down, then they’d retreat in order to preserve what they had – that had been the plan from the beginning, even though nobody liked it._

_Keith was pressed against a wall, trying to stay out of sight as two of the sentries walked by. “Where next?”_

“Take the next right,” _she answered, watching his position on the map carefully. She was also monitoring the other paladins, from what information their suits provided on the side._

_Minutes seemed to blend together, and Shiro felt like they’d been out here for hours, though he knew it hadn’t been that long._

_It seemed like an eternity later, that Keith said something other than a request for directions. “I’m outside the cell. I can hear voices – he isn’t alone.”_

“How many are there?” _Shiro asked._ “Do you need me to come find you?”

_“No, it’s too late for that,” Keith muttered. “I can hear at least three-“ A loud cry drowned him out, having obviously carried from the room._

“Keith!” _Allura called._ “Keith, what’s going on over there?”

_“I’m going in,” Keith responded, punching the button on the side of his helmet to shut off his comms. He couldn’t hear them as he used his jetpack to give him a boost up to where the air vent was. He crawled through the tight space, barely fitting with his larger stature, trying to find a vent that would let him see what was going on inside of the prison cell without being seen. It should be – there! Keith caught a sight of several people as he passed by a grate, immediately backtracking and leaning down as far as he could to see through the small gap between the metal bars._

_The room was small, looking as if it had thick metal for walls instead of the sleek material that the Galra typically used for their ships. Inside, Keith could make out Lance’s figure, though he couldn’t see who the other people were. Lance looked exhausted, his body sagging forward in the chair they currently had him in, although Keith could see other instruments that didn’t look unused._

_He tried to get lower, still unable to hear what was going on. The vent was too high up, and the sound of their talking hadn’t carried as far as Lance’s cries. Keith briefly wondered if the room had been designed that way, as a warning to the other Galra in Zarkon’s servitude. One screw up, and they’d end up in the same position._

_The Red Paladin pushed harder on the grate without thinking about it, and it fell off, sending him falling down into the room with the unknown people and Lance._

_They stopped their conversation, turning to look at him in perfect sync. It almost made him shiver, but he was already feeling the effects of adrenaline from the pain of the fall. Thankfully, his armor had prevented him from breaking any bones, but now he was in a locked room with a heavily injured Lance and a group of what Keith could now see were Druids._

_The one in the center smiled in what could be seen as triumph, though Keith didn’t have much time to register it before he was activating his shield, holding it out in front of him to block the purple lightning that was sent in his direction. It didn’t quite work that way, the power of the lightning shattering the shield and hitting him dead on. The force of the blast sent him reeling, ending up several feet away from where he’d been a moment ago. He heard a cry, and only later did he realize that it’d been his._

_Lance seemed half-conscious, looking over at him with an unreadable expression that was masked by exhaustion and pain. Keith struggled to his feet, his bayard appearing in his hand and expanding into the familiar red and white blade. Another bolt of lightning came towards him, and he barely had the time to move his head. As it was, he felt the heat and energy as it shot past his head. He reached up and turned his comms back on, hearing shouting over the speakers._

“He’s not responding!” _Shiro said._

“We must head to his location, then,” _Allura responded._

“Uh, we’re a bit preoccupied out here!” _Pidge shouted._

_Lance was staring at Keith, seeming dazed. “Are you gonna hurt me?” he asked, his words slurring together slightly but not to the point where it was unrecognizable._

_“What? No, of course not–“ Keith dove to the side to avoid another attack, hearing shouts over the comms._

“Keith, are you alright?” _Allura asked._

_“Fine,” he muttered back. “How do I kill these things?” He hit the button that would project his view to the others, standing up to draw their attention._

“Keith, you need to get Lance and get out of there, if you can,” _Shiro told him. He dodged another bolt of lightning, only for one of them to appear in front of him and take a swipe at his face._

_Keith wasn’t able to pull back fast enough, feeling the pain race through his system like a burning flame. He cried out, swinging his bayard blindly. It didn’t make contact, but it was successful in getting the druid away from him._

“Keith, fall back!” _Allura ordered, but the Red Paladin ignored her. There was a harsh, metallic sound, and Keith looked over to see part of the door fly inwards and cause the druids to scatter. He stared at Shiro with wide eyes, despite the fact that the cut was bleeding a lot more than he’d thought and made him feel dizzy after the adrenaline wore off._

_“I’ve got them,” Keith heard Shiro say, both in person and over the comms, and he’d never been more relieved to see the Black Paladin at that moment._

_“C’mon…” Keith mumbled, “help me get Lance out of here.” He took a step in Lance’s direction and felt his leg give out from under him, falling to the side._

_Shiro caught him, helping him back on his feet and making sure he was steady before letting go. “Princess, we’re going to need a bit of help down here,” Shiro said. “They both need to get put in the healing pods, and I can’t carry them both.” Keith barely made out what Shiro said, too busy watching Lance._

_The Blue Paladin was looking at them warily, as if they were an enemy to him. He shrank back in his chair like he was trying to escape – though with what Keith had heard earlier, it was probably exactly what Lance was doing. “Just get it over with, why don’t you?” Lance asked, meeting his eyes with a gaze that made Keith shiver._

_“Lance, we aren't going to hurt you,” Keith said, deactivating his bayard. He pulled out his knife instead, using it to cut Lance free rather than risking harming him with the longer blade._

_“You just want to rescue the Blue Lion,” Lance hissed. “You don't really care about me, do you?”_

_“Lance, what are you–“ Keith didn’t understand why he was saying that. Why was Lance acting like they didn’t care about him? Of course they cared about him, he was part of their team, their_ family _._

_“Keith,” Shiro cut in, “I think we should do this once we’re back in the Castle. Hunk is waiting for us.”_

_Keith nodded slightly, looking back at Lance. “Are you coming with us?”_

_“No.” Lance’s words had a cold edge, the message clear. He didn’t trust them at all._

_“What? Come on, Lance, we have to go.” Keith sounded confused. Why didn’t Lance trust them? He was acting like they were strangers to him._

_“You’re just going to hurt me again,” Lance said. “Isn’t that right?”_

_Shiro shook his head. “No, Lance, we aren’t. Just come with us… please.”_

_Hunk came into the room with Pidge, ready to help them out despite what Shiro had said. “I couldn’t leave you behind, man!” Hunk wrapped Lance up into a hug, holding him close._

_Lance weakly pushed at Hunk, trying to get him to let go. “I– stop– please–“_

_“Lance, buddy, we’ve got you,” Hunk told him. “You’re safe.”_

_Laser fire started at a heavy rate, aimed at the group. One of the shots hit Lance, knocking him out in his already weakened state. He went limp in Hunk’s arms, and the panicked Yellow Paladin picked him up, starting to move him out of the line of fire. Keith had already separated from the group, charging the sentry drones with his sword. Shiro ran after him, not wanting Keith to get hurt if he passed out from his injuries that he’d already received._

“What is happening in there?” _Allura asked over the comms._

_Pidge shot her grappling hook, watching it wrap around one of the sentries. She grinned, pulling it to the side to trip the rest up before retracting the hook, creating a chaotic pile. “Nice job, Pidge!” Keith called, moving in to take out as many as he could before they could regroup. He tripped over a loose plate in the floor and fell, his vision doubling from the blood loss._

_“Keith!” Shiro shouted, rushing to his side. “Come on, we’re gonna get you back to the castle, alright?” Keith was only able to nod, his head pounding too much for him to come up with a response. He barely registered being picked up by Shiro before slipping into unconsciousness._


	3. The Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran talks to Lance, who seems to be making small steps of progress towards recovery.

Since Lance had taken a ride with Blue, he’d been a bit calmer, though he still didn’t trust the team.

Keith wished that he knew how to help, really – it was frustrating to all of them. They wanted to be able to help, but Lance wouldn’t let them in. He still kept everything inside, as he usually did, they’d learned. Lance was the type to bottle up his emotions because he was worried they’d hold someone back.

Coran approached the Blue Paladin quietly, waiting to see if Lance reacted badly. He was mostly expecting it, so it came as a shock to him when Lance met his eyes – something he hadn’t done with anyone else in the Castle.

“Lance,” Coran greeted kindly. “How are you holding up?”

Lance opened his mouth to speak, but then thought better of it and his eyes fell to Coran’s feet. It worried Coran, since he wasn’t quite sure what he could do, but he didn’t let it put him off. “Let’s take a walk.”

Lance nodded, and Coran wished that he could see what was going on inside of Lance’s head so that he could help him. However, since Lance hadn’t spoken, they had no idea what had even happened to Lance, let alone how to fix it. Ever since the escape, he’d been completely tight-lipped about the whole thing and in general.

The two of them started walking through the hallways of the castle, Coran leading him through the familiar areas that they’d been in before. “You know, back before Altea was destroyed, there was another boy in the castle who always seemed to have something to prove. He would take jobs that he could barely handle, and always come back to needing a cryopod. However, he kept doing it no matter how much we tried to convince him to slow down and tell him that he would come into his own abilities in his own time. He’d always tried to keep the peace between the Galra and the Alteans when things went south… I’m not sure why he thought he had to do it alone.”

Lance frowned, wondering why Coran was telling him this story. His face must’ve shown his emotions – damn it, he’d never been able to stop that – because Coran kept going.

“So, he did everything alone. He rarely spent time with people his own age. He always said he was too busy, either lost in his own head or trying to resolve problems that had nothing to do with him. It took a heavy toll on him, and he had changed by the time the alliance finally broke. He’d been forced to grow up too quickly, and he was the first to learn of the Galra’s betrayal after trying to keep us together. He was the first casualty of the war. He was spending the day with the Galra, trying to help improve their diplomatic relations, when he’d been stabbed in the back by one of them.”

The Blue Paladin kept fiddling with the cuff of his jacket. It still didn’t seem to fit quite right, despite that it’d been a week and a half – or around that, space time was hard – since he had been pulled away from Haggar. It was unsettling to him, being surrounded by people who had tried to kill him on several occasions. As soon as he turned his back, as soon as he closed his eyes, they’d strike. So, he’d stopped doing that. The lack of food and sleep had started to take a serious toll on his body, leaving him only getting sleep when he passes out from exhaustion and only eating when he doesn’t have enough energy to think straight.

The age old question kept resurfacing. Could he trust them? The answer was no. Maybe Coran, but he was too close to the others and would probably tell them everything that happened. It was just one big game to them, he assumed. Taking bets on how long it would take him to crack, and what would happen then? Would he reverse the roles and attack _them_? Or would he just escape, heading off to some unknown planet? At this point, even he wasn’t sure of his own intentions. Why did he stay? What would he gain from being silent, when the rest of them were trying to get him to talk?

The answer was, of course, simple. If he didn’t say anything at all, they wouldn’t have any information to use against him later on. He couldn’t trust any of them, even if he wanted to trust Coran. Coran hadn’t done anything to him, although he’d never seemed _against_ the idea of killing him. Maybe…

“Lance?” A voice pulled him out of his reverie. Startled, his head shot up and his arms were held out in front of him to protect his face. Seeing him do that, it broke Coran’s heart. Lance was far too young to have to deal with this, it wasn’t fair. “Are you alright?”

Lance nodded, but his eyebrows furrowed together. He seemed to struggle for a moment, before he spoke. “What… happened?” His voice was raspy from a lack of use, but it still was enough to shock Coran. Was he the first Lance had spoken to?

He pushed it aside, continuing the story. “The blade very narrowly missed his vital organs. He was able to return to us in time to warn us of the Galra's betrayal, but we were unable to save him. He died a hero, just outside of the healing pod that could've saved his life. His name… his name was Cobain.”

Lance frowned. That name sounded familiar to him, though he didn't know why. An image suddenly flashed into his head – a younger boy with orange hair, hugging Coran. His eyes widened, having not expected that outcome. Cobain was Coran’s son? Just how much had he lost when Altea was destroyed?

Coran smiled faintly. “For all his efforts, though, Vaila stayed close to him. They were the original Blue Paladin – and just like you, they held the team together. Trust and family were what they valued the most, and it really paid off on some missions. The Blue Lion values loyalty, trust, and balance over anything else.”

The corner of Lance’s lip twitched upwards. “Ba _lance_ , huh?”

Coran’s smile widened. “Yes. We all missed you, Lance. Even if that is hard to believe, or if you don’t want to believe it, it is the truth.”

“ _We’ve already found a new Blue Paladin,” Keith said coldly. “All we need is the Blue Lion – we_ don’t _need_ you _. And that, is the cold, hard, truth.”_

_Lance took a shaky breath. It wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t— but it was. Of course it was real. His team didn’t want him, they hated him. “Why are you even here, then?” he asked, his voice small and weak._

_Keith smiled. “Blue won't accept a new pilot until you're gone. You understand, I’m sure?”_

_Lance wanted to shake his head, to scream no, he didn’t, why couldn’t he go back to the castle with Keith—_

“ _Come on, Lance, look at me. I want to see your eyes, when the light fades.” This part, Lance didn’t remember. Why didn’t he remember it? A faint whisper seemed to start in the back of his head, chanting his name._

Lance.

_Keith was approaching him, his bayard materializing into a sword._

Lance.

_Keith pulled his arm back, and swung—_

“Lance!”

Lance was yanked back to reality with a start, his hands flying up to protect his face. _Please don’t hurt me please don’t hurt me please don’t hurt me pleasedon’thurtme_ he begged mentally, breathing shallow and uneven as he wished the person near him would leave.

“Lance,” Shiro’s unmistakable voice began, which only made Lance press up further against the wall he’d found himself against, “you’re okay. None of us are going to hurt you.”

“ _Go, we don't have time! Allura’s taking heavy fire!”_

_Wait for me, Lance wanted to say. He begged, and screamed, and cried, but nothing came out of his mouth._

“—find Allura.” Someone was speaking. When did he end up on his knees? He wasn’t sure. He was surrounded by the paladins, he knew, which wasn't helping things at all.

“Lance,” Hunk murmured, looking on in despair. After Lance’s previous reaction to Shiro, he kept a comfortable distance between them.

Keith looked like he was torn between worry and frustration. “We can't help you if you don't talk to us, Lance.”

Lance took a shaky breath, staring at the floor. He heard two sets of footsteps, and Pidge’s annoyed tone. “What are you _doing_? He needs space. And he damn well isn't going to get it with you two tripping over your own feet trying to help when in reality you’re just making it worse.”

Slowly, Shiro and Keith took a few steps away from their teammate. Lance had his eyes squeezed shut. “Wh-why aren’t you doing it?” he asked, his voice shaking. “Just get it over with! You can't even give me that?" Lance's eyes were wild with desperation and fear, the sight of it gripping Shiro's heart like an iron fist.

“Lance,” Coran said softly. “Can you look at me, please?” Shakily, he looked up at the Altean, who held out his hand. He didn’t force him to take it, didn’t invade his personal space, just held it there.

Lance took it after a moment’s hesitation, pulling himself to his feet and letting Coran lead him away from the paladins. They watched him leave, before Keith took a breath. “What the hell was that?”

Pidge scowled. “You should've given him space. He obviously wanted to be alone, much less surrounded by the team he thinks wants him dead.”

“I agree,” Hunk said. “As much as I want to help Lance, he clearly doesn't want anything to do with us right now. I think we need to trust Coran to handle it. He's been helping Lance a lot, it's obvious. But us hovering around him probably makes him feel—“

“Trapped,” Shiro realized.

“Exactly,” Hunk agreed.

Shiro winced, wanting to make up for his mistake, but sighed. It would just make things worse if he went after Lance at that moment – they all needed to calm down.

“We need to have a meeting,” Shiro finally said. “Let’s meet at the bridge in twenty.” He would’ve taken them all up there at that moment, but he wanted Coran to be there if he could. Out of all of them, it seemed that Coran had had the best luck with Lance so far.

As they all agreed, Shiro hoped that Lance would be able to start trusting them soon. However, his hopes weren’t very high, knowing what the Galra were capable of. He sighed once they were all gone, starting to search for Coran.

Maybe, if they were lucky, they’d be able to fix the situation before it got worse.

They never got lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So, I'm not really sure about how this chapter came out, but it's here so...
> 
> Come chat with me on [Tumblr](stygianlotus.tumblr.com)! Shoot me an ask, or a message, or anything, I'm always up to chat (or rant, whichever you prefer)
> 
> I've also decided to create a [Discord server](https://discord.gg/rgb2hdZ) for this fic, if any of you are interested in joining! I'll share spoilers from time to time, and we can hang out and talk about anything.


	4. Disaster on Triari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mission on Triari goes incredibly wrong, as Team Voltron loses one of their teammates to save the planet.

"Alright, Team Voltron!"

_It was supposed to be an easy mission. Nobody was supposed to get hurt, it was a diplomacy mission to increase relationships with another planet. The Triari were a very proud race, and there were many things that were discovered to upset them — so much that when Lance tried for his usual cheesy flirting routine to pull everything together, the woman was so insulted that she lifted her hand and slammed it against his face._

_Of course, neither Keith nor Pidge would ever let him live something like that down. It seemed so simple in their own culture, but they hadn't realized that others might find it as insulting as they had. However, it luckily hadn't hindered their relationship with the Triarian royalty, and they were able to secure another planet for the Voltron Alliance. All in all, it had been a successful mission._

_It wasn't until they started to leave that everything went wrong. As soon as they had left the planet's atmosphere, they were surrounded by a fleet of Galra ships._ "How'd they find us?!" _Allura asked in alarm, typing out onto the console in front of her to open the hangers._ "Paladins, hurry back! We need to leave as soon as we can!"

_The lions began to fly back towards the Castle, but a well-placed shot threw a large piece of debris at the Castle._ "Keith! Stop that meteorite before it hits the Castle!" _Shiro commanded, watching as Keith flew away from them to attempt to intercept it before it was too late. While the Castle of Lions had extraordinary defenses for something that was ten thousand years old, it was rather slow when it came to evasion, they'd come to learn._

"I've got your back, Keith!" _Lance called, breaking their four lion formation to guard Keith while he was focused on the meteorite._

"Thanks, Lance!" _Keith grunted, firing his cannon at the rock. There was a resounding laser fire, and then the meteorite exploded, the debris being stopped by the Castle's particle barrier._

_The Paladins cheered. "Way to go, Keith!" Pidge said, but the Galra ships were still firing at them._

"Uh, guys?" _Hunk asked._ "Not that I don't love celebrating, 'cause I do, but we're kinda still getting shot at."

"There's too many of them for us to form Voltron," _Shiro reasoned._ "We'll stay as individual lions for now, unless it gets to be too much for us to handle separately."

_They split off, heading for the many ships scattered around them in a tight ring. Lance fired his ice beam to freeze the fighter drones in their path, Keith fired his cannon again and destroyed several ships in one blast. Pidge and Hunk used their lasers to take down drones, while Shiro went for the battleships with Keith, jaw blade already formed._   
_For a few blessed minutes, they were winning, it seemed. They'd severely thinned the Galra numbers, enough for them to be able to escape through, but the Castle's defenses were weak. There was no way they'd be able to wormhole out while under such heavy fire, they realized._

"Alright, team! Form Voltron!" _The lions seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces, rotating and shifting to fit properly into the one large robot._ "Form sword!" _Keith thrust his bayard into the open slot, and an energy sword formed in Voltron's right hand._ "Lance, Hunk, full thrusters! Pidge, we need that shield!"

"You got it!" _Lance responded, as he and Hunk hit their buttons at the same time. Pidge put in the command to summon the shield, and Voltron charged the battalion fleet. It was a rather short fight after that — even being outnumbered, Voltron was still more powerful than a few Galra battleships if they gave it everything they had._

_"What is that?" Pidge suddenly asked, noticing something off in the distance._

"I think it's our cue to get out of here!" _Hunk answered, and they all started flying back to the Castle yet again._

_A resounding laser fired through open space, hitting Voltron's right foot dead on. Lance's concentration shattered as pain overtook his mind, and the five lions were forced apart._

"What happened?" _Shiro asked immediately, looking around. "Lance!"_

_The Blue Lion was a few feet away from them, drifting off away from the Castle. Part of its side was completely ripped open, revealing the cockpit of the warship. Inside was Lance's unconscious form, sprawled out across the ground. A purple glow surrounded both Lance and the Blue Lion, beginning to pull it upwards._

"How did they get here so fast?!" _Keith shouted, staring up at the Galra ship that had its tractor beam locked onto Lance._ "We have to stop it!"

_The Red Lion shot off towards the ship, but more fighter drones than what should've been possible rose up in front of him, creating a barrier between them and Lance. Keith blasted at the drones tirelessly, but for every one he destroyed, it seemed as if two more took its place. With the Galra's technological capabilities, Keith wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. They probably had a huge assembly line producing dozens of fighter drones by the dobosh, for this very situation._

“Damn it! Lance!” _Keith struggled to find another way around, it seemed as if they’d encircled the entire ship to protect it._

“I’m going in from the bottom!” _Hunk said, and the Yellow Lion began to descend. As though they’d heard him, the fighter drones moved to block him as well, though it left a small opening that Pidge slipped through unannounced._

_She scanned the area, noticing how close the Blue Lion was to the ship. She had to stop it. If she didn’t, Lance would be in the hands of the Galra, just like her family. She couldn’t lose anyone else to the Galra. Her nature cannon charged and fired, but it was ineffective due to the lack of oxygen in space. The plants just died, then broke easily. It wasn’t much of a hindrance to the Galra, and the Blue Lion disappeared behind a sliding panel._

_“No!” She fired laser blasts at it, trying to get inside, and while part of the ship was destroyed, most of it was still functional. Pidge didn’t dare get too close to where Lance had been – she didn’t know what she would do with herself if she found out she’d killed Lance while trying to save him._   
_As soon as the ship had appeared, it was gone, and the fighter drones were easily disposed of now that they weren’t actively being replaced._

_Allura’s face appeared on all of their screens._ “Paladins, please return to the Castle immediately.” _They were heading back anyway, but it gave them more of an incentive to head back. The four remaining paladins docked their lions in their respective hangars before heading up to the bridge, where Allura and Coran were waiting._

_“What happened to Lance?” Coran asked, frowning. He knew that Lance’s communications had cut out, and that he’d gotten hit, but they hadn’t been able to see him get taken from the angle they were at._

_“The Galra took him,” Shiro muttered, his metal hand clenching into a fist. “We’re getting him back, at the first chance we get.”_

_Nobody slept that night, the Castle seeming far too quiet to be comfortable with._

* * *

_Lance regained consciousness slowly, peeling his eyes open to try to fight back the drowsiness that threatened to overtake him again. What had happened?_

_They’d been in battle, and formed Voltron… they were heading back, and then all Lance remembered was pain. He must’ve passed out from the magnitude of it, unless he hit his head. He groaned, looking around. He was in a cell, it seemed – did he get captured? – with little room to move around. His wrists had strange cuffs on them, though Lance recognized the style of them. They were the same kind that Nyma had used to chain him to that tree, but Lance wasn’t sure how they would activate. Maybe it was a remote thing? He would find out, he guessed._

_His helmet was missing, he noted, as well as his armor. He was left in only the black flight suit they all wore underneath their armor, which didn’t provide much protection at all. It covered him, he supposed, which was at least a relief. He didn’t need or want Galra guards poking at his private areas, thank you very much. He sighed, staring at the door. It barely looked like a door and more like part of the wall, resembling a panel rather than a door._

_It was a small room, but the purple lighting was harsh on his eyes. He grimaced, lifting his arm to shield his eyes from the light. He’d never be able to sleep until it adjusted, but it at least seemed to be consistent. His eyes would get used to it soon enough, he hoped._   
_What had happened to his team? Were the others okay? They’d been in Voltron when he got hit… what did that do to the rest of the Paladins? Nothing, he hoped, but even Allura and Coran didn’t understand everything about the Lions. They were sentient, so it wasn’t as if Pidge could simply study the mechanical code and be done with it. They were able to think on their own, and Lance briefly wondered if Blue had moved on purpose to try to protect him from the blast._

Blue _. Where was she? Lance couldn’t reach out to her with his mind, which completely terrified him. Were they just too far apart, or was she too hurt to respond? Were the Galra messing with their bond, trying to break it? Was it just the sheer amount of quintessence that Lance, even as a human, could tell, that made the bond go out of whack?_

_It was incredibly unnerving. He was completely alone, left only to his own thoughts and whatever sounds he made. So, he did what he thought was best given his current situation – he started talking to himself._

_It seemed stupid in execution, but it was sound to fill the space. At least then, he wouldn’t have to sit in complete silence if he filled it with his mindless babbling. At least it was something, and that was far better than nothing._

_For now, he supposed, he’d just have to wait until they came for him._

_They came sooner than he’d hoped they would._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come chat with me on [Tumblr](https://stygianlotus.tumblr.com)! Shoot me an ask, or a message, or anything, I'm always up to chat (or rant, whichever you prefer)
> 
> I've also decided to create a [Discord server](https://discord.gg/rgb2hdZ) for this fic, if any of you are interested in joining! I'll share spoilers from time to time, and we can hang out and talk about anything.


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